Ebola Fighters are TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year.

Time Magazine Person of The Year 2014


With over 6,000 deaths and counting worldwide, Ebola is more than a trending topic, it’s an epidemic. Doctors and nurses from west African nations and from all over the world have worked to give those infected a fighting chance and stop the epidemic from spreading.

According to TIME Magazine,

But 2014 is the year an outbreak turned into an epidemic, powered by the very progress that has paved roads and raised cities and lifted millions out of poverty. This time it reached crowded slums in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone; it traveled to Nigeria and Mali, to Spain, Germany and the U.S. It struck doctors and nurses in unprecedented numbers, wiping out a public-health infrastructure that was weak in the first place. One August day in Liberia, six pregnant women lost their babies when hospitals couldn’t admit them for complications. Anyone willing to treat Ebola victims ran the risk of becoming one.

Which brings us to the hero’s heart. There was little to stop the disease from spreading further. Governments weren’t equipped to respond; the World Health Organization was in denial and snarled in red tape. First responders were accused of crying wolf, even as the danger grew. But the people in the field, the special forces of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the Christian medical-relief workers of Samaritan’s Purse and many others from all over the world fought side by side with local doctors and nurses, ambulance drivers and burial teams.

In addition to over 6,000 deaths, over 17,000 people are currently infected in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.